U.S. launches strike on Syrian military airfield: Here's what we know

This is the first conventional assault on another country ordered by President Trump.
USA TODAY

In this image provided by the U.S. Navy, the guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) launches a tomahawk land attack missile in the Mediterranean Sea, April 7, 2017.(Photo: Ford Williams, U.S. Navy via AP)

Why did the U.S. attack?

Back in 2013, President Obama set a "red line" against the use of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar Assad. The regime proceeded to use the weapons to kill 1,400 civilians, but Obama did not attack — a move Trump and other Republicans widely criticized as making America look weak.

In the wake of that episode, Assad agreed to turn over his stockpile of chemical weapons. This week's chemical attack clearly violated that pledge. Trump called the attack — which killed at least 86 people, 27 of them children — "a disgrace to humanity" and "truly one of the egregious crimes."

"The strike was intended to deter the regime from using chemical weapons again," Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement.

What Trump says:

"It is in the vital national security interest of the United states to prevent and deter the use of deadly chemical weapons," Trump said from his Mar-a-Lago retreat after the strikes were carried out. "Assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children. It was a slow and brutal death for so many. Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered at this very barbaric attack. No child of God should ever suffer such horror."

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President Trump made a statement regarding the U.S. cruise missile strike on Syria after chemical weapons attack.
USA TODAY

How did the U.S. attack?

The cruise missiles were fired from a U.S. Navy vessel in the Mediterranean Sea. The missiles hit multiple targets, including the airfield which serves as the base for the warplanes suspected of carrying out the chemical attack.

The plan for the attack followed one devised in 2013 after Obama set his "red line," a senior defense official told USA TODAY.

Did the strikes cause any casualties?

Homs governor Talal Barazi told The Associated Press that the airstrikes caused deaths and injuries, but didn't specify how many.
"I believe — God willing — that the human casualties are not big, but there is material damage," Barazi told Reuters. "We hope there are not many victims and martyrs."

Has the U.S. struck Syria before?

The U.S. has been bombing Islamic State targets in Syria since 2014, but this was the first strike against the Syrian regime. This also marked the first conventional assault on another country ordered by Trump.

Why did the U.S. attack from ships?

Tomahawk missiles can travel 1,500 miles to strike their target. So, the U.S. Navy was able to launch the attack from the Mediterranean Sea, avoiding the need to get permission from any host country to launch the strikes.

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US Defense Department video shows some of the missiles fired at Syria from two U.S. Navy ships. The US attacked a Syrian air base with roughly 60 cruise missiles in response to a chemical weapons attack it blames on President Bashar Assad. (April 7)
AP

What are the risks of attacking the regime?

One potential concern is the safety of U.S. special operations troops in eastern Syria who are advising local ground forces in their fight against the Islamic State. One official told USA TODAY there are fears Assad could counter by targeting the U.S. troops.

One reason the U.S. chose limited strikes against Assad, is that a more sustained campaign would risk the total collapse of the regime. That risks a power vacuum that could allow ISIS or other extremists to seize power.

How did Russia and Iran respond?

One concern was how Russia and Iran would react since both countries have boots on the ground in Syria supporting the regime. Iranian militias support Assad and Russia's intervention turned the tide of the six-year-old civil war in Assad's favor.

Though the U.S. military notified Russia of the strike before it was launched, the Kremlin regarded the U.S. military action as an
"aggression against sovereign state in violation of international law," The Associated Press reported early Friday. Iran similarly condemned the airstrikes against Syria, saying they were "dangerous" and "destructive," according to The Associated Press, citing
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi.

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A Syrian man collects and bags the body of a dead bird, reportedly killed by a suspected toxic gas attack in Khan Sheikhun, in Syrias northwestern Idlib province, on April 5, 2017. International outrage is mounting over a suspected chemical attack that killed scores of civilians in Khan Sheikhun on April 4, 2017.
Omar Haj Kadour, AFP/Getty Images

Syrians dig a grave to bury the bodies of victims of a a suspected toxic gas attack in Khan Sheikhun, a nearby rebel-held town in Syrias northwestern Idlib province, on April 5, 2017. International outrage is mounting over a suspected chemical attack that killed scores of civilians in Khan Sheikhun on April 4, 2017. Warplanes had carried out a suspected toxic gas attack that killed dozens people including several children, a monitoring group said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said those killed in the town of Khan Sheikhun, in Idlib province, had died from the effects of the gas, adding that dozens more suffered respiratory problems and other symptoms.
Fadi Al-Halabi, AFP/Getty Images

In this picture taken on Tuesday, April 4, 2017, victims of the suspected chemical weapons attack lie on the ground, in Khan Sheikhoun, in the northern province of Idlib, Syria. The death toll from a suspected chemical attack on a northern Syrian town rose to 72 on Wednesday as activists and rescue workers found more terrified survivors hiding in shelters near the site of the harrowing assault, one of the deadliest in Syria's civil war.
AP

An unconscious Syrian child receives treatment at a hospital in Khan Sheikhun, a rebel-held town in the northwestern Syrian Idlib province, following a suspected toxic gas attack on April 4, 2017.
Omar Haj Kadour, AFP/Getty Images

A Syrian medic runs for cover during the air strikes which hit a hospital in Khan Sheikhun, a rebel-held town in the northwestern Syrian Idlib province, on April 4, 2017.
Omar Haj Kadour, AFP/Getty Images